Posts Tagged ‘House’

Republicans recently introduced a bill in the Senate that will extend the NSA’s ability to collect and store phone call data through December 2020. As it stands today, the law (part of the Patriot Act) is slated to expire June 1. The Obama administration has asked for changes to the program, such as having telephone companies, rather than the NSA, store phone call data. The Obama administration also wants the program scaled back — especially after the negative blowback following the program’s revelation by Edward Snowden. Senate Republicans have, however, fast-tracked the bill by skipping committee deliberations and sending it straight to the Senate floor. Civil liberties groups such as the ACLU condemn the practice as an invasion of privacy and want the bill to expire as scheduled. It’s unclear how member of the Senate and House of Representatives will vote on the bill.

Tomorrow, a bill, SB 800, will be considered in the House that, if passed, could provide a permanent home for Uber in Arkansas, granting residents continued access to safe rides and countless new job opportunities. Sign the petition below to help ensure this bill is passed.

Infamous former Ku Klux Klan leader and Republican legislator David Duke recently went on a tirade against rapper Nicki Minaj. While most of the nation had assumed Duke had long since died he proved that he could still make waves on his online radio show.

What did Minaj do to incur the former Klan leader’s wrath? The white supremacist lost his proverbial sh*t after the pop star spoke out against police brutality.

Minaj said that black entertainers need to speak out against police abuse, even if many are reluctant to do so because they would be “torn apart” for taking such a stand.

“How many times can you be made to feel horrible for caring about your people before you say, ‘F*ck it, it’s not worth it — let me live my life because I’m rich, and why should I give a f*ck?’” Minaj said.

But David Duke, who has once again found mainstream relevance after it came out that Louisiana Republican, and House majority whip Steve Scalise, spoke before a Neo-Nazi group founded by the former Klan leader.

Duke decided he would seize the moment by defending the boys in blue…

“Why do people blame blacks like Minaj?” Duke asked, wondering out loud why anyone would support a musician who speaks out against police brutality.

“Because Minaj wouldn’t be a pimple on somebody’s rear end except for the fact that she is promoted by the Jewish record producers and the media, the mass media, the powerful media, that promotes absolute degenerates like her.”

“One of the Jewish producers who’s boasting about the fact that every one of the top 10 Billboard songs were those he controlled — even rap music is not something that blacks really are responsible for,” Duke continued with his racist and pro-police brutality tirade. “It was the Jewish record producers who promoted this degenerate and sick and horrific music.”

Duke seemed to get lost in his racist vitriol, never really getting to any point that would legitimize the police brutality which he was so enraged at Minaj for speaking against.

Internationally-renwoned and universally-beloved Bishop T.D. Jakes is vowing to file a lawsuit against popular rapper Young Jeezy and singer Kendrick Lamar for sampling portions of his sermon without his consent.

Jakes, the highly influential televangelist who transformed a tiny West Virginia-based congregation into a transcontinental religious empire called The Potter’s House in Dallas, took great umbrage when he learned that Jeezy and Lamar used a part of his sermon for their song “Holy Ghost” remix.

Jakes took to Facebook to announce that he will be taking legal action against the hip-hop stars as he revealed he did not give the rappers consent to use any portion of his Don’t Let Chatter Stop You speech that he delivered back in 2013.

“The Holy Ghost remix by Jeezy featuring Kendrick Lamar was produced without the knowledge or consent of T.D. Jakes, TDJ Enterprises, Dexterity Music or its associated companies,” the Facebook post explained. “We are taking the necessary legal actions to stop the unauthorized use of T.D. Jakes’ intellectual property.”

The sampled clip features roughly 20 seconds of Jakes’ speech in the very beginning of the track.

Legal pundits don’t believe the lawsuit will hold its own in court, but the minister remains undeterred and unbowed.

“I’m under attack, but I’m still on fire,” Jakes roared amid a thundering congregation. “I’ve got some chatter, but I’m still on fire. I’ve got some threat, but I’m still on fire. I got some liabilities, but I’m still on fire. It’s not amazing that I’m on fire. I’ve been to hell and back, but I’m still on fire.”

While no reps for Jakes, 57, nor Jeezy or Kendrick have commented publicly about the lawsuit, legal experts are not so sure that Jakes has a strong case here.

According to Kirsch, the 1994 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in favor of the Miami rap group Live Crew could be enough to let Jeezy and Kendrick off the hook.

In that ruling, the judge decided that the group’s sampling of singer Roy Orbison’s Oh, Pretty Woman was fair use for parody purposes.
However, the Rosa Parks camp successful sued groundbreaking rap group OutKast for using her name in one of their songs without her expressed permission.

Beyonce helped pal Michelle Obama, you know, the first lady of the United States, celebrate her 50th birthday at the White House on Saturday. … at what is being called a White House “dance party” for the first lady’s big 5-0.

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K. Michelle definitely got the attention of her Instagram followers after posting photos of her cleaning house in a pair of tiny white shorts. The sultry singer first showed off her jaw-dropping curves while standing in front of her open refrigerator and holding up her broom. Her followers were flabbergasted by her figure, with one user stating “Beauty has never been so well defined.”

K’s booty has been the topic of many conversations in the past year, with some wondering whether it’s real or not. During an interview with Power 105.1’s The Breakfast Club, she admitted that she had a butt lift, and after getting fat taken out of her midsection, her booty looks bigger than ever.

Regardless of how she achieved the shape, K. Michelle has tons of admirers who can’t stop looking at it. Check out more of her photos in the above slide:

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An agreement to stave off the harshest and most immediate consequences of the fiscal cliff won approval in the House late Tuesday. President Barack Obama said he would sign the law, the battle over which foreshadowed more fights with Congress over spending.

Following a day of hectic wrangling on Capitol Hill — where the prospects for passing the bipartisan, Senate legislation regarding the fiscal cliff hung in the balance for much of New Year’s Day — the House voted 257 to 167 to pass the belated compromise measure over the objections of many conservative Republicans.